Page 9 of Corrupted By the Shadow King (Hope Runs Deep #3)

Alex

M y first conscious thought is to chuck the nearest object within arm’s length at my brother.

Maybe not a desk or chair, those are on a larger scale than I need.

My goal is to alarm him, not maim him. Perhaps a book or a shoe to the head would convince him to shut up without giving him a concussion.

Both of those are big enough to draw his attention, but neither should seriously injure him.

Well, technically, they could, but I am willing to risk it if it means he’ll let me rest. My brother’s inability to allot others an iota of peaceful and undisturbed sleep drives me loco . And it always has.

This is the precise reason I was so adamant that we each have our own rooms when we were nine and ten.

We’re both over thirty years old, but clearly, there are some facets of a personality that are so deeply woven into us that we never outgrow them.

Angel being noisy is one of them. Every time I’m on the verge of drifting off to sleep, he speaks, and now his hands are on me.

I’m not a touchy-feely type of guy, and he knows it.

So, what’s with the persistent touching?

His skin is softer than I remember. Maybe he’s finally found the perfect skin routine he’s constantly going on about.

Knowing Angel, his intentions are pure, but I just want to rest. Is that too much to ask?

My eyes remain closed while I think things over, and I finally slip into a light sleep.

The ability to hear my brother comes and goes.

A soft, hesitant female voice responds to him every now and then.

The mood of the conversation is light, or at least the bits and pieces I make out are.

I drift in and out of consciousness for what seems like an eternity, their conversation not holding enough of my attention to fully pull me out of my slumber.

I must be dreaming, though. There aren’t many women who play a big role in Angel’s life.

Honestly, that’s true for both of us. There are two who have loved us enough to look past the ugly parts, and one of them is dead.

I don’t know if anyone else will ever love either of us that much.

Our sister is amazing, but losing our mother…

My blood is cold enough for me to survive this vile life without her breathing life back into me.

I’m afraid Angel isn’t as strong. His heart is an ooey-gooey mess inside, and he needs to be reminded that there’s still love in the world.

Mamá was Angel’s world. His confidant. She was the first person he came out to, which made sense, seeing as she was his best friend.

Angel has her compassionate heart. I have our dad’s.

Our parents’ tragic death was hard on us both—it still is. We were not ready to lose them. I can’t imagine waking up one day and simply swallowing that kind of pain at any age is easy. The death of a parent is gut-wrenching, and it’s a wound that never heals.

“Anything, pajarito . Anything,” Angel vows with a harsh bite to his statement. Where are we, and why is he talking to a bird? They exchange a few more words, but I don’t catch them, too preoccupied with my curiosity regarding the bird.

Opening my eyes with the intention of cussing my brother, I glance beside me on the bed, expecting Alex.

My heartbeat picks up speed, and my tongue swipes along my bottom lip on its own accord.

As I blink slowly, letting my eyes adjust to the brightness, the sun glistens off long blonde hair swishing as the woman who I thought I dreamed talks to my brother.

The way the beams reflect off her strands, making different colors of the rainbow visible, is like something from a dream.

Maybe I’m not as awake as I think. Is she even real?

“You know I have to go back to work the day after tomorrow,” the woman counters, balling the sheet into her fingers. She’s upset, that much I can tell, but why is she here in the first place?

Hermosa . I’m speechless as I watch her, wondering what I did to deserve her presence.

I’ve always known I’d go down in a blaze of bullets, but I didn’t think one to the arm would take me out.

My dying is the only thing that makes sense for her to be here.

She has to be an angel. There’s no other explanation for someone so beautiful being at my side.

I question if she is a harbinger of death, here to collect my soul for the devil, and her mission is to drag my ass back to the shadows where I belong.

“We will see,” Angel insists.

Work? She can’t leave me. Ever. Nothing makes sense.

The last thing I remember is running from Abuelito .

No. The person wasn’t my grandfather, but I thought he was.

Who was he? Then I was running for my life.

How did I get here, and who is she? I have so many questions that need answered, but somehow none of them are as important as her staying by my side.

I reach for her, clinging to a small chance that I could be wrong about where I’m headed.

“Am I in Heaven?” Her being here to guide me from this earth and into Heaven isn’t believable to me, but I ask her anyway.

I’m not a good man. In fact, I’m one of the worst people on this planet when it comes down to it.

I know where I’ll land in the afterlife.

I have a wretched, dark soul inside my body, and my heart is black as coal.

Some people are born with hope and peace as their driving force.

And then there are people like me. Darkness entered my body with the first breath I took into my lungs, and I’ve been living in the shadows of the damned ever since then.

Her eyes close briefly as she takes a deep breath and blows it out. “Oh. Umm. Heaven, no,” she says nervously, controlling most of her laughter, but some does escape. She grabs the washcloth off my pillow, dips it into a basin beside her, and wrings it out, placing it on my forehead.

“We’re in…” She hesitates, looking at Angel, and he nods as if giving her permission to speak. “You’re in San Antonio, Texas. I’m Nikki.”

We’re at my penthouse in San Antonio. We’re safe…

for now. The Sol will come looking for retribution.

I’ll have to remember to have Ricky beef up our security.

His cousin, Luis, is more than eager to join us, but I haven’t given him a yes, simply because I think he’s too young.

Now, more than ever, we need people we can trust.

Nikki pats my hand, and I lift my eyes to hers before turning to my brother as he walks toward us, stopping once he’s right in front of Nikki.

“Isn’t it time to change his bandage?” Angel suggests to her.

“Right. Yes.”

I turn my head, noticing a bloodstained bandage neatly wrapped around the biggest part of my upper arm, and I gasp.

I’m not sure what I expected, but this seems a bit excessive for one bullet.

Anything is a step up from Angel’s botched cauterization job, I guess.

He did what he had to do, just as I would have if the roles were reversed, but I hope neither of us experiences it again.

The stench of my burning flesh is something that will linger in my mind for the rest of my life.

I didn’t realize memories could hold a smell, but looking at the drainage on my bandage, I can’t forget the scent.

“Twin, do you know where the Kerlix I asked for is?” Nikki digs through a cart, and then her eyes lift to Angel.

Twin? What in the hell have I missed? How long have I been out?

I pry my eyes away from her and focus on Alex, gritting my teeth as I lift my eyebrows.

He has a lot to explain. I dart my eyes from Nikki to the door and back to Alex.

He needs to get rid of her before I do it for him.

I’m playing nice right now, but that’s about to come to an abrupt halt if he doesn’t start talking soon.

Angel glares at me and sighs. “No, parjarito . I’m not his nurse, you are. Remember? Go to Ricky. He’ll escort you to where we keep the supplies. Take whatever you need.” He sighs after he finishes his instructions for her but doesn’t break eye contact with me.

Her tongue glides over the upper row of her teeth, and a deep breath in and out follows.

“Okay,” she rebuttals the short reply, jolting to her feet.

Her almond-shaped green eyes find my face, and my heart sinks, wishing in this moment that I’m not who I am.

Being the don of a cartel means my trust is something that is earned and not doled out to everyone.

My love…well, that’s an emotion I rarely give to anyone outside my family.

Her naturally pink lips open as if she wants to say something, but I curtly nod at her before she can speak. There’s no reason for her to speak to me right now. She’s not the one I need to hear from. It’s Angel who will piece together my memory.

Her mouth settles into a thin, disapproving line, but she doesn’t respond to me. She turns on her heel and is out the door.

“Well?”

“Well, what?” Angel blinks slowly, cocking his head to the right as he sits down on the bed where Nikki had been situated..

“ No te hagas el tonto conmigo ,” I say in exasperation as my face settles into a scowl.

He likes to play coy, but now isn’t the time.

Planning our family’s next moves won’t be possible without him filling in the gaps in my memory.

Okay, I could do it, but I shouldn’t have to without all the necessary information.

“I’m not playing dumb, Alejandro. I’m not a bruja with the gift of mind reading,” he quips, but his teasing words come out sharp, and his expression looks fierce. His nostrils flare and his jaws tense as he grinds his teeth and clenches his hands together between his knees.

“Fine.” I throw my hands up and groan when pain throbs down my injured arm. Clenching my jaw, I squeeze my eyes shut and take deep breaths until the pain lessens.

When I open them again, Angel has his eyebrows cocked and his lips pursed. “Mmhmm. That’ll teach you to be such a hag.” I can see the worry in his eyes, though.

I ignore him, sitting up and repositioning myself carefully until I’m sitting on the side of the bed.

“Who is she? Why is she here? Have the Sol retaliated? What happened? I can’t remember shit.

I think I saw Abuelito at one point, but I know that isn’t possible.

Help me out, hermano , because I really have no idea what the hell is going on.

Last I remember, you were using that damn car lighter on me in Mexico, but somehow, in the time I’ve slept, we have crossed the border and are miraculously in our new residence.

And along the way, you picked up a woman. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

His eyes widen, but he doesn’t answer me, so I continue, “Did you kidnap her?”

He smirks, then he clicks his tongue. “You seem to be awfully worried about who she is, and you know better. Of course, she isn’t here for me.” While crossing his legs, he gives me a knowing look, resting his hands on his knees.

“Ricky?”

“As if.”

I growl in his direction. “I can ask your precious little bird when she returns.”

He rolls his eyes. “ Mierda , you’re cranky.”

“You would be if you had a noisy ass brother who likes to hear his own voice.”

Angel scoffs and clutches his chest. “Rude. Although, it might be delightful to trade and be the alpha-male with a bad temper, mi hermano .” He sticks his tongue out, and I glare at him, afraid that if I speak again, I’ll regret what I say to him.

Sighing, he finally relents, “One, I didn’t kidnap her. Dos, ella no es mi parajarito . Ella esta loco . The stitches on the back of your arm got infected without us knowing, and your fever shot up. You were hallucinating and popped me in the nose.”

Now that he has pointed it out, I can see a little bruising on his nose and eyes. Barely noticeable, but still there. “Sorry.”

“Yeah, you’re a horrible patient. Anyway, you wanted me to shoot Ricky, and when I refused, you turned on both of us. Eventually, your ass bailed out of the SUV and took off running?—”

“And I ran into her,” I finish for him, not recalling all the details, but now that he’s jogged my memory, I remember hitting something or someone.

“Yes, you did. She’s as crazy as you are.

She jumped in the back seat and refused to get out because you were hurt.

That little bird either has a death wish or her Florence Nightingale complex is so strong she can’t help herself.

That or she has daddy issues. I haven’t decided.

I guess it could be all of the above, really. ”

“What do you mean she just jumped in the back? She is a small, weak woman. You are only an inch shorter than me and always have a weapon on you.”

“She could have called the cops.”

“So? Since when have you been afraid?—”

“I am not afraid. But you were bad off, and she claimed to be a nurse. We needed someone.”

“Doc?”

“Decided to take a holiday.”

“ Mierda! ”

“Any other injuries? The men?” I am trying to choose my words carefully because the angel could return at any moment, but then I remember something. “Why the hell did she call you twin?”

He laughs, and I roll my eyes, attempting to wait patiently.